There had to be one!

OK…It was bound to happen, but today was not the best day of my trip. We started off in the early morn to head to Stirling. We got there, somewhat early, so I decided to put minutes on my cell phone. During this time I lost sight of the group. I knew our train was coming soon, so I went to the platform, an below and behold, there was the train. I ran to get on and sat down…no one else was there.! About 20 minutes into the the ride, someone called me and told me I was on the earlier train…this wasn’t the bad part and actually worked out well. I now had time to put my luggage in a locker so that I could leave from Stirling to go to Aberdeen again.

Well…did all of that and met up with everyone. We took a group picture, and then were off on our own. We all were having problems finding good subjects to shoot, so we did a little walking….eating…and visited Holy Rude church where King James I was crowned as an infant. The church was wonderful and so was the nearby cemetery.

Long story short I found my photo subject for the day and was wrapping up my shoot…only to notice my battery was soon to die….THEN….Like a ton of bricks….I realized my charger was in my Flat back in Edinburgh. I went to the camera shop to see if they could help out, but they were unhelpful and kind of rude. My only option was to head back to Edin and then off to Aberdeen…not a big problem….just a half hour off schedule.

Got into Edin fine and then got on the train to the College. Due to a door malfunction. I did not get off on the train in enough time. Therefore I had to get off down the road in the middle of nowhere. I called a cab and waited. The cab picked me up and like all cabbies, was not very nice and didn’t understand my need to get back soon…I’m sure I could have been nicer to him, but wasn’t too happy at this point. After paying the driver…I ran to my room, got the charger…and ran….and YES….I ran….to the train stop along with many others. The train to Aberdeen was in less than 30 minutes and I had no time to spare. Suddenly, a voice from somewhere said…The train will be on a 10 minute delay…It took all I had not to jump on the tracks…although….I would have had to wait 10 minutes for anything to hit me!!!

The train arrived….I got on….I  ran through the crowd and jumped on the Aberdeen train….which is where I’m typing this from now…So far all is better…I have my charger and am looking forward to stopping at the Fish-N-Chips place again. Hopefully tomorrow I will get some good images and do it a lot easier…looks like I have a pretty busy weekend and a busy next week.

Stirling, however, was beautiful and the Castle and Wallace Monument were very neat to see. Grandma Wik, you would have loved it!!! 

A stroll in the Garden

When we think of gardens in America, we think of small little beds of flowers and maybe a few vegetables. The Scots are notorious for gardening and they do it like no-other!!!

I was looking for something to do yesterday and decided to make my way to the Royal Botanical Gardens...expecting a small park or something....Well, not only did I get a full blown park, but this area was completely staffed and included several glass houses! I was blown away...and it was FREE!

I wish we had something nice like this closer to home. 

I also got my 12mm lens the other day (Thanks Lori!). So now I can shoot really wide shots. The shot of the building is my college (Queen Margaret University) at sunset. It looks a little stark during the day, but the facility is new and needs for the trees and such to grow in around it. While photographing a swimming pond near the Uni, i discovered what a Midgie was....a mosquito...with an attitude! Within minutes, they swarmed all around me and let me know it!

Then just few short minutes after that a flash of lightening went across the sky...apparently...Scotland gets a lot of rain but not lightening and thunder...I was unaffected, but the locals were quite shaken. What was on my mind was that I was walking in a lightening storm with a tripod...and a camera...in a relatively flat area. (Exciting!) 

Episode 2: Out of the Shower!

Just got out of the shower and figured I'd give you all a video!...LOL

Will be posting more pics soon!